


Ripe

by hannahrhen



Series: Good, Giving, Game [11]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: BO Kink, Kink Negotiation, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-03
Updated: 2013-08-03
Packaged: 2017-12-22 06:05:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/909790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannahrhen/pseuds/hannahrhen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki likes Tony's <em>natural</em> state.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ripe

This morning, Tony showered, as he always did.

Shaved, as he always did.

Brushed his teeth: ditto.

Reached for the--

His hand hovered.

It was the same brand of deodorant he’d used for years. Blue plastic tube. White label. Indeterminate male, musky scent that was second nature to him under his aftershave, the smell of his hair, the lip balm he carted around each winter.

His hand, over the stick, hesitated.

Loki hadn’t even needed to confess, sometime around the second or third day after the kidnapping. It had been so obvious, it was almost embarrassing. He’d provided Tony with everything the now-captive would need in the confines of his little dungeon room and _ensuite_ bath. Soap. Shampoo. Toothbrush and Crest.

No deodorant. Even the fuckers in the cave had given him that. Tony had finally asked, awkwardly and with hand gestures, after his first incomplete hygiene ritual on that second day of captivity. Did Asgardians even know what deodorant was? Loki hadn’t looked confused; he’d just looked ... bored.

He always looked bored.

Tony didn’t reek, per se, even after a couple of days without. He showered enough that it wasn’t a real risk. But for the first time in ages, he could smell himself, that odor, under the soap and aftershave and scent of peppermint toothpaste. The pungency under his arms. Just a tiny, tangy echo of sweat and hormones and ... humanity. _His_ humanity, unmasked by a slick layer of chemical and mineral.

It turned his nose up.

It didn’t turn up Loki’s nose. Loki’s perimeter--the radius he allowed Tony as they negotiated one kink after another--got smaller and smaller after that second day, after the third. On day seven, after he’d put Tony on his back, he’d pressed his nose under the joint of Tony’s shoulder, just for a brief moment, and ... breathed in.

Oh.

Tony waited until day ten to be an asshole about it, when they were both wrung out from the clone sex, and Tony was particularly redolent.

The accusation came out with a chuckle. “Oh, little frog--you have a BO kink.”

Loki looked up, still distracted, from where his face was pushed up to the side of Tony’s chest, suspiciously close, his expression suspiciously content. “Mm?” was all he said. And if Tony had any doubts, Loki’s nostrils flared. _Yeah._

“BO. Body odor. You _like_ that I stink.”

Loki shrugged as well as he could from their entwined position. Didn’t even start to deny it, and even had the nerve to give Tony an eyebrow, like he was the nut. “I like the way mortals smell, yes. You cover it up too much.” He didn’t cover up his next inhale.

Tony squirmed away a little, tried to press his arm back down. “We _cover it up_ to preserve civilization.” Gave up as Loki shifted his weight over Tony’s torso, pinning him again. Tried to reason: “Society would break down if we banned the Ban.”

Loki hummed as he bit at the curve of Tony’s pectoral, way too close to his pit. Then, he continued, “There are human societies, even today, that live without the overabundance of scent you cover yourselves with. They seem to do just fine. Your society, however, has just rejected its natural state.”

Not the best turn of phrase. Asshole. “I know what you think about our ‘ _natural state_ ,’” Tony snapped.

Loki finally began to pull away, to stand. Not murderously annoyed, but, yeah, bored and done with this conversation, and ready to lock Tony away for the evening. Apparently, even Tony’s enticing funk wasn’t going to make this drama worthwhile. “I would have you bathe infrequently, at most.” He turned back to the bed, gave Tony a critical look. “But I won’t stop you from covering your own scent. If you want this product, I will bring it to you.”

The next morning, Tony found the stick tucked between the toothpaste and his razor on the bathroom counter.

And Tony, after thinking once, twice, on Loki's nose in his pit--and that rare, contented expression--had rolled his eyes and thrown it in the trash.

All of this was omitted from Tony’s report to SHIELD--to Fury. Natasha had agreed to that judgment call, after she’d wiped away a few tears of laughter. The BO kink had finally defeated her poker face. Before she absolved Tony of adding that particular confession to SHIELD's permanent files, she conceded that she could “kind of see Loki’s point.” It was the only kink she commented on with more than a raised eyebrow, nod, or quirked lip.

Dirty girl--Tony loved her for that.

So, months later, she was the only one who didn’t make pointed comments when Tony sometimes--obviously--went without. When he let himself revert to his _natural_ state, and even Steve gave him the “really, Tony?” look of mild shaming. When he would wake up at two in the morning, or jerk upright from a task in his workshop, to find Loki pressed behind, scenting him closely. To feel the long fingers of those slender hands pulling his shirt hem out of his jeans or suit pants.

Smelling himself? No, it wasn’t Tony’s favorite thing, okay? And “Pepe Le Pew” rotated into the many nicknames for his occasional fuckbuddy. His sometime lover.

But that smell--Tony’s own smell--was more effective than a booty call. And it was a small, if potent, price to pay.

So, this morning, Tony’s hand hesitated over the stick, then pulled away. He made the choice, and waited for his own body to issue the invitation.

An invitation that Loki wouldn't turn down.

**Author's Note:**

> A little piece to help break up some writer's block. Hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Thanks for reading, as always! Find me on tumblr at [hannahrhen.tumblr.com](http://hannahrhen.tumblr.com).


End file.
